One of my early church jobs was as a youth pastor at a church that had a youth ministry that deeply siloed from the rest of the congregation. We operated in our own building, with our own volunteers and staff, largely disconnected from the larger congregation. Our...

In 2019, my husband and I took a trip to Sedona, Arizona. We would spend our mornings hiking in the red rocks and then, in the afternoon, check out one of the wineries in Verde Valley. Our first afternoon, we wound up at a winery called “Javelina Leap.” The logo was a...

When I was a youth pastor, I went through a process of deep listening and demographic  research with the community where I served through a youth ministry innovation research initiative.1 I worked with largely well-resourced, high-achieving kids, and these kids and...